You Changed Me For Good
by dragonrider94
Summary: Song fic: "For Good" Wicked . Takes place in the days after Sweet Revenge, only Starsky has died. Hutch is grieving alone at the graveside when Starsky's ghost visits him. Possible tissue moments. Would love to know what you think!


This is a short S&H oneshot songfic set in the days after "Sweet Revenge", only in my version, Starsky dies. Sorry, I know the song choice is a little random, but I'm going through a 'Wicked' obsession right now. Also the structure is a little different from your usual songfic. The song is woven in at the end. I'll just see how it goes – please let me know what you think! I love reviews, and they make my day!

~dragonrider94

I don't own Starksy and Hutch or the musical, Wicked. Unfortunately.

**You Changed Me (For Good)**

The long legged blonde cop sat indian style on the fluffy, carefully manicured grass of the graveyard, staring at the new grave marker.

_Here lies Detective David Starsky, killed in the line of duty..._

It went on to say what a great cop and guardian of the peace he had been, and how the world would miss him.

The description didn't even begin to do him justice.

_Aah, Starsk._ He reached out and stroked the pale carnations that had been placed carefully at the

base of the gravestone. They were from the Dobeys. He smiled sadly as he remembered Rosie saying goodbye to Starsky for the last time.

She had begged and pleaded with her father to let her place the flowers on Starsky's grave. The family made their way solemnly past the gravestone.

The usually gruff and outspoken Captain was silent, and his dark eyes were misted with unshed tears.

"Well, I guess this is it." he said, as though Starsky was standing beside him. "It's been an honor to serve alongside you. You and Hutch were the best detectives on the whole danged force! You were a good cop, and -" his voice broke with a rumble, and a short little sob escaped his lips. "-And a, a good friend! You're a good man, Starsky!" Mrs. Dobey said nothing, tears falling quietly down her cheeks.

Rosie bent over, placing the bouquet on the grave. Her large eyes brimmed with tears.

"Goodbye, Uncle Dave!" Her lip trembled, and she bit, trying to hold back the tears, but she couldn't. She began to cry softly. "I love you, Uncle Dave! Enjoy your time _up there_. Save a spot for me!" She sniffed. Her dad put a firm hand on her shoulder. She looked up, and father and daughter exchanged a sad smile. They would miss their friend.

But no one would miss him more than Hutch.

"Me and thee...forever!" Hutch scoffed. "It sounded good, but I guess it had to end somewhere, didn't it? Aah! If only I had been over there beside you! Maybe I would be with you now, babe, instead of left here all alone...or maybe I coulda stopped it somehow! Maybe somehow we coulda caught those goons before they got to you...if only!"

He sighed, looking down at his hands. "I can't do this alone, Gordo. I'm quitting the force – handed in my papers to Dobey. He saw it coming, everyone did. I-I feel lost. I can't keep on being a cop. They'd try and put me with a new partner, and I'll only ever have one partner. And if I were to try and do something else...I don't know what I'd do! It's the only thing I know. I'm not the man I was before all this. The force, all those years behind a badge...they changed me. You changed me, Starsk. And I will never be the same. I've never had another friend like you. You're a part of me – my other half. And honestly, between us, I've been thinkin' of speeding things up, and joining you. All it would take is a few quiet minutes at my apartment and my gun. I figure that's the quickest way to go. Then they can put me right here beside you, and we can be together forever."

A single tear trickled down his cheek, and he wiped it away angrily. "You know, why did any of this have to happen! Why did we meet, go through all those years together, only to be ripped apart and have it end like this, with nothing but a big empty hole left! Why!" He cried angrily at the sky. "Is this some kind of joke! Pretty cruel if you ask me! Maybe it would've been better if we'd never met at all! If none of this had ever happened!"

He sank forward, collapsing into a fit of quiet, heartbroken sobs.

"Why ya cryin', Blondie?" asked a familiar voice.

_I've heard it said_

_ That people come into our lives for a reason._

_ Bringing something we must learn..._

Hutch whirled around, jumping up off the ground, and falling down, onto his back in his hurry.

The beloved face of a curly haired brunet stood over him.

"Starsky." he asked, not able to believe what he was seeing. "Is this a dream?"

"If this is a dream, then let's make it last for as long as we can, huh, Hutch?"

Starsky sank down onto his knees beside his best friend.

_And we are led_

_ To those who help us most to grow_

_ If we let them_

_ And we help them in return._

"I can't believe it's you." Hutch whispered, reaching up to run a hand through the familiar dark curls.

"And as much as I would like for it to be – you saw the shots, saw me die there on the table."

Hutch bit his lip and began to shake with silent sobs. He nodded slowly, only to lose control, and he began to cry again softly. "Another part of the joke, huh?"

_Well I don't know if I believe that's true._

Starsky took Hutch, and gently pulled him over into his lap, gently stroking Hutch's blonde hair. Comforting him.

"It's no joke, Blintz." A tear ran down Starsky's cheek. "It was no joke, no prank. It was very real. And it was pretty amazing while it lasted!"

Hutch smiled through his tears, nodding. "Y-yep."

_But I know I'm who I am today_

_ Because I knew you..._

"That's life, Hutch. That's what it's all about! We're given people, places, and things for a short amount of time, and each of them changes us in some way - small or big, for better or worse. Everything has a purpose."

"When did you become such a philosopher?"

Starsky laughed. "Dying helps you see things like you never saw them before!"

"I bet." Hutch said softly.

_Like a comet pulled from orbit_

_ As it passes a sun_

_ Like a stream that meets a boulder_

_ Halfway through the wood_

_ Who can say if I've been changed for the better?_

"How would you rate the, uh, impact I had?" Starsky asked with a smile.

"Well," Hutch mused. "Definitely big..."

_But because I knew you..._

"And most definitely for better."

_I have been changed for good._

"Good." said Starsky with a contented smile. He closed his eyes, and tears ran down his cheeks. That's what I needed to hear. And you'll never know how big of an impact you had on my life. I-I love ya, babe!"

"Me too, Starsky."

Starsky took a sharp breath, a sudden pained look on his face.

"Hutch, I don't have a lot of time left."

Hutch sat up quickly, whirling to face Starsky, his face filled with panic. "What! Wait, don't go! Please!"

_It may well be_

_ That we will never meet again_

_ In this lifetime _

_ So let me say before we part_

"I was given one opportunity to come back to you, and I took it. I never got a proper goodbye the first go around, and I needed to talk to you. To let you know that everything was all right – that it would be okay. Now my time is up. I have to go." His face was filled with sadness and pain.

_So much of me_

_ Is made from what I learned from you._

"And you'll always be there in my heart. In my head." Hutch offered, trying to smile through his tears.

_You'll be with me_

_ Like a handprint on my heart._

"Darn right!" Starsky affirmed heartily.

"So this is it then?" Hutch asked, his voice hoarse and strained.

"Looks like it. Hutch, I may be gone but," Starsky began, "whatever happens now, I want you to know that-."

_And now whatever way our stories end..._

"I-I'm sorry I said that, Starsk." Hutch said slowly, cutting him off." I don't ever regret meeting you, or any second of our time together. I wouldn't trade them for the world. You have been and always will be my closest and best friend!"

_I know you have rewritten mine_

_ By being my friend..._

Starsky smiled. "Yeah. You too, Blondie."

_Like a ship blown from it's moorings_

_ By a wind off the sea._

_ Like a seed dropped by a skybird_

_ In a distant wood._

_ Who can say if I've been changed for the better?_

_ But because I knew you..._

_ I have been changed for good._

Starsky smiled, stood, and turned as though to go.

_And just to clear the air_

_ I ask forgiveness_

_ For the things I've done you blame me for._

"And Starsky, I'm sorry for all the times I wasn't there for you, or-or made life miserable for you (although that went both ways), and any other times I messed up. I-I wasn't always the best friend, and I wasn't always there, and I know sometimes -"

"Yeah, sure! You can definitely be a jerk sometimes!" Starsky grinned, that thousand watt grin that Hutch loved so much. "But I forgave you as soon as it happened, or shortly thereafter. Usually. That's what friends are for. And-" He looked down for a moment, then looked back at Hutch and shrugged his shoulders. "There were plenty of times that I screwed up, or was a jerk to you, I'm sure. The times I acted like a little kid. And you were always there to set me straight."

_But then I guess we know there's blame to share..._

"So," Starsky finished,"it's not really a big deal."

Hutch nodded.

_And none of it seems to matter anymore!_

_ Like a comet pulled from orbit_

_ **Like a ship blown from it's mooring**_

_ As it passes a sun._

_ **By a wind off the sea.**_

_Like a stream that meets a boulder_

_ **Like a seed dropped by a bird**_

_Halfway through the wood_

_ **In the wood...**_

__Starsky sighed. "Well, I really have to go."

Hutch smiled. "We don't want you to be late!"

Starsky grinned. "You're not kidding! I got a date with the angels!"

Both grinned.

"Bye, Gordo."

"See ya, Blondie."

Starsky turned away, then swerved back around, as though something had just occurred to him.

"And Hutch?"

"Yeah?"

"None of this crap about shootin' yourself, 'kay? You still have time on your clock – time to be changed by other people into an even better person, and impact the world around you. Maybe consider seein' if Dobey'll take you back on. I know it wouldn't be the same. But try something else. There's some job out there with your name on it, and somebody who needs ya yet. Don't worry, I'll save you a spot up there, and I'll be waitin' for ya. An' in the meantime, whenever you're in that stupid old car 'o mine (which I'm assuming you are taking care of for me. I know how much you love it!) or just looking up at the stars in the night sky, or wherever you are, I'll be right there, looking down at ya. 'Kay?"

Hutch smiled through the fresh downpour of tears.

"You got it, partner."

Starsky smiled. "See ya around, Hutch!" He said softly, and then he faded away slowly, like a mist, into the setting sun.

"Goodbye, Starsky."

XX

He got up off of the ground, and picked up the dozen white roses that had been laying on the ground beside him. He placed them gently beside Rosie's carnations. He straightened, touching the cold marble of the tombstone lovingly.

_See ya around._

And he turned and walked away.

_Who can say if I've been changed for the better?_

_ I do believe I have been changed for the better._

_ And because I knew you..._

_ Because I knew you..._

_ Because I knew you,_

_ I have been changed for good._

**Well, there it is, with all it's bumps and bruises. Sorry, it was a little on the cheesy side. I didn't really put a lot of time into it. I just jotted most of it down while I was bored on a road trip over the holidays. Still, I would love to hear what you all think – terrible or not. Again, reviews make my day! Have a wonderful day yourself, and thanks for reading!**

** -dragonrider94**


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